History Main / AllPowerfulBystander

* ''WebOriginal/SCPFoundation'': SCP-343 is possibly the most powerful SCP in the entire Foundation canon, being a RealityWarper who has no known limitations and may or may not be {{God}}. However, even though he could break out of containment on a whim, he's content to just stay where he is and not bother anybody. He doesn't seem to have any particular end goals, or be interested in using his powers to alter the world he supposedly created.

* Dominic tries this after the timeskip in ''Roleplay/AtherCity'',[[spoiler: but Dominic being Dominic, it fails miserably.]]

* Both Splinter and The Shredder serve as this for the good and bad sides respectably in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012''. The reason because these two both qualify as the WorldsStrongestMan that as no other person in the series could fight evenly with them. When Splinter enters a fight against Shredder's men? Splinter always curbstomps them. Shredder entering in a fight against the Turtles? The Turtles are lucky enough to even escape alive. It's pretty clear that all of the main problems in the series could've been solved if Splinter was more active and this actually works in Shredder's favor as he successfully won after teaming with The Kranng. [[spoiler:It's only natural that both Splinter and Shredder get killed off once the series ended.]]

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' with Princess Celestia, who tends to be as uninvolved as possible with [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]] not only out of fear of [[HeWhoFightsMonsters slipping into villainy and tyrany herself]] and a potential SuperpoweredEvilSide, but also because she's grooming Twilight Sparkle to be her successor and Twilight needs to learn how to handle these events. However, while she ''fancies'' herself as quite powerful, and she's certainly no slouch, she's not ''nearly'' as powerful as she likes to think: the times she does take a stand and fight she is [[CurbStompBattle soundly defeated]], and every single BadFuture where she had to defend Equestria resulted in her and Equestria's swift defeat.

* Observers in ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' are this, (it's in their friggin' title,) being essentially able to quantum-observe reality itself. The trope is also justified in that Observers ''need'' to stand back and strictly adhere to noninterference in order to be able to effectively observe the world. The most prominent Observer in the franchise, [[LittleMissBadass Rachel Alucard]], ultimately takes a more active role in the plot at the cost of losing most of her power, but she's still a formidable foe to face.

For more information about their Power See TheOmnipotent.

* Observers in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' are this, (it's in their friggin' title,) being essentially able to quantum-observe reality itself. The trope is also justified in that Observers ''need'' to stand back and strictly adhere to noninterference in order to be able to effectively observe the world. The most prominent Observer in the franchise, [[LittleMissBadass Rachel Alucard]], ultimately takes a more active role in the plot at the cost of losing most of her power, but she's still a formidable foe to face.

* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': [[WorldsStrongestMan Shinkouhyou]] is so strong that the others characters don't have much choice but to tolarate his presence while he wander arround as he please. Yet his only involvement in the conflict is to occasionally give a little push in one direction to make things more interesting to watch. otherwise remain a spectator. When Kokutenko ask him why he doesn't just defeat [[spoiler:Dakki]] himself, which he could do anytime he want, he just answer that this wouldn't be interesting, implying that he would just be [[LonelyAtTheTop very bored]] if things were resolved too quickly and he were left with nothing to watch.
** Taijou Rokkun is the strongest after Shinkouhyou, but get involved even less. He have no interest in what's going on, and just want to [[BrilliantButLazy sleep]]. All the time. He can see in the very distant future in his sleep, and because of this consider that whatever dynasty fall or win right now isn't that important on a larger scale since in the very end they're all going to disappear anyway. [[spoiler: Subverted when we learn that he was secretly monitoring the true BigBad Joka while sleeping and joins the heroes when the time has come to defeat the Signpost of History once and for all.]]

** As the scribe of God and holding the knowledge of God's names and secrets, {{Metatron}} 1 is explictly powerful enough to kill all of the surviving Demiurges and scour Throne free of their taint, but [[TheFettered having the Old Law literally written into their being]] prevents them from breaking it in such a manner. [[spoiler:As the GreaterScopeVillain of the comic, it is likely Metatron's manipulations of Zoss and Jagganoth is some manner of plan to get around this.]]

* ''Fanfic/DevilTrigger'' has [[VideoGame/Rodin]] in this role. He could swoop in and resolve everything, but aside from one time he brawled with Scion across several Earths, he's only intervened twice, when Taylor and her allies were horribly outmatched. He prefers to run his bar and mentor them, not directly meddle in their battles.

[[folder:Religion]]

* [[spoiler:Ronnie Schiatto]] from ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' is an omniscient and omnipotent "demon", but found it entirely too boring. Therefore, he decided, upon Elmer's suggestion, to take human form and follow Maiza around an indefinite period of time, joining [[TheMafia the Camorra]] somewhere along the way. As for the omniscience...
--> "... Don't worry. I've decided I don't know the future. It takes all the fun out of life."

** In "The Fires of Pompeii", Donna notes that the Doctor could get the entire population of the city into the TARDIS and take them to safety. Because it's a fixed point in history though, he refuses to do anything to prevent it. That said, later it is shown that messing with fixed points in history has the potential to ''break time'', so he has a pretty good reason not to.
** In "The Night of the Doctor", it's revealed that during the Time War, [[spoiler: the Eighth Doctor absolutely ''refused'' to get involved... until a brush with death and his latest prospective companion choosing rather to die than be rescued by a ''Time Lord'', pushed him passed the DespairEventHorizon. With the universe facing certain destruction and the Doctor facing being KilledOffForReal if he didn't regenerate, he chose to come back to fight as the [[NeutralNoLonger War Doctor]]]].

* Some of the Ascended beings in ''Series/StargateSG1'', particularly Oma Desala and Daniel Jackson (during season 6). Any Ascended being who tries to help ends up getting some sort of ironic punishment. The Ori from seasons nine and ten exemplify the Evil DungeonMaster.
** The Ori are more like an Evil DungeonMaster who decides to heap rewards on his jerkass players and send them after the players working with the DM who wanted to keep the game balanced (by not helping the players at all). Results in more than a few [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp Battles]] (with the show's protagonists getting stomped) even after it's revealed the Ancients SHOULD have a direct stake in fighting the Ori. After all, the ultimate goal of the Ori is to ''kill them''.
* The Prophets in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' (especially fond of "We'll bail you out just this once, but there will be a terrible price you have to pay.")
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Q, who could probably solve most of the ship's problems effortlessly, but spends more time causing trouble than actually helping the cast... though it is at some points hinted that he's a TricksterMentor towards humanity, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality who just doesn't really care]] about how much the crew has to suffer because of his 'lessons'.
** At least once, Q offered his services to the crew as a guide and protector, and was [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu summarily told to shove off.]] So he did what omnipotent beings do when offended, and sent the ''Enterprise'' halfway across the galaxy to make FirstContact with an unknown race... [[ResistanceIsFutile The Borg.]] A dozen of Picard's men die and he is [[AintTooProudToBeg forced to beg]] for Q's help to escape. It's implied the Borg were already headed towards Earth, so it's possible Q just wanted to tip the humans off, [[{{Troll}} while still having his fun, naturally.]]
** The Enterprise crew find themselves in this position several times, able to easily fix dangers and ills facing primitive cultures but being unable to do so because of the Prime Directive. Episodes that play this up might end with them fixing the problem naturally or playing up the drama of sitting back and letting people die; either way, the morality of the issue is sure to come up.
-->'''Picard:''' ''(As Pulaski insists they save a planet about to be destroyed)'' Do we make the same exception if it's an epidemic and not a geological calamity?
-->'''Pulaski:''' Of course.
-->'''Picard:''' What about a war? If generations of conflict is killing millions, do we interfere? ''(pause)'' Well, now we're all a little less secure in our moral certitude. What if it's not just killings? What if an oppressive government is enslaving millions?
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': the Organians, introduced in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E26ErrandOfMercy Errand of Mercy]]".

* The crew from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' often finds themselves on the ''opposite'' side of the problem from the other Star Trek series. It's not uncommon (especially in the early season) for them to find themselves in situations where a race could get them back to Earth (or at least shave months off the trip), only to find that species has their own version of The Prime Directive that keeps them from sharing the technology. Or are just assholes. A prime example would be the returning Q; after spending an entire episode helping Q connect with his son and form a positive relationship, Janeway asks if Q could repay them by sending them to Earth. Q responds "What kind of example would I be setting for my son if I did all the work for you?"
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Orpheus", Daniel has a memory when he was ascended of watching Master Bra'tac and Teal'c's son Rya'c being taken prisoner and did nothing. Jack reminds him that the Ancients (the other ascended beings) [[AlienNonInterferenceClause would not have let him do anything to prevent it]].

* ''Literature/KonoSuba'' has Wiz, a [[TokenHeroicOrc kindhearted ]]shopkeeper [[{{Lich}} lich]] that was [[spoiler:forcefully]] made a general of the Demon King. She was an extremely powerful heroic arch-mage in life, and this power was only amplified as a lich. However, in return for... not doing Demon-King-general-things, she is allowed to take a neutral stance in the conflict, as long as no bystanders are hurt. [[spoiler:As we see, the moment this pact is broken by a monster she ''will'' act, and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown woe be to that monster]].]]

* ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': Servant Ruler is not supposed to join the Holy Grail War. They are meant to impartially observe the war and only interfere if something drastic happens like if civilians are threatened or if civilians are on the verge of finding out about magic or the war. Jeanne is eventually forced to directly intervene when everybody finds out [[spoiler:there is another Ruler who is violating the rules by joining the war.]]
* [[spoiler:Ryougi Shiki's Third Personality]] from ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' ''definitely'' qualifies. She's effectively omnipotent, but just doesn't care about anything. She's almost completely disconnected from reality, and nothing really matters to her, so she hardly ever uses the nigh infinite power she possesses. She exercises some of her true power in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' to [[spoiler:preserve Shiki's existence as a Pseudo-Servant after Solomon destroys the world]], but when she appears as a playable character she's WillfullyWeak and amusing herself by playing at being a Saber-class Servant.
* ''Literature/{{Konosuba}}'' has Wiz, a [[TokenHeroicOrc kindhearted ]]shopkeeper [[{{Lich}} lich]] that was [[spoiler:forcefully]] made a general of the Demon King. She was an extremely powerful heroic arch-mage in life, and this power was only amplified as a lich. However, in return for... not doing Demon-King-general-things, she is allowed to take a neutral stance in the conflict, as long as no bystanders are hurt. [[spoiler:As we see, the moment this pact is broken by a monster she ''will'' act, and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown woe be to that monster]].]]

* [[spoiler:Ryougi Shiki's Third Personality]] from ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' ''definitely'' qualifies. She's effectively omnipotent, but just doesn't care about anything. She's almost completely disconnected from reality, and nothing really matters to her, so she hardly ever uses the nigh infinite power she possesses. She exercises some of her true power in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' to [[spoiler:preserve Shiki's existence as a Pseudo-Servant after Solomon destroys the world]], but when she appears as a playable character she's WillfullyWeak and amusing herself by playing at being a Saber-class Servant.
* ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'' has Wiz, a [[TokenHeroicOrc kindhearted ]]shopkeeper [[{{Lich}} lich]] that was [[spoiler:forcefully]] made a general of the Demon King. She was an extremely powerful heroic arch-mage in life, and this power was only amplified as a lich. However, in return for... not doing Demon-King-general-things, she is allowed to take a neutral stance in the conflict, as long as no bystanders are hurt. [[spoiler:As we see, the moment this pact is broken by a monster she ''will'' act, and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown woe be to that monster]].]]

* [[spoiler:Ronnie Schiatto]] from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is an omniscient and omnipotent "demon", but found it entirely too boring. Therefore, he decided, upon Elmer's suggestion, to take human form and follow Maiza around an indefinite period of time, joining [[TheMafia the Camorra]] somewhere along the way. As for the omniscience...
--> "... Don't worry. I've decided I don't know the future. It takes all the fun out of life."

* ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': Servant Ruler is not supposed to join the Holy Grail War. They are meant to impartially observe the war and only interfere if something drastic happens like if civilians are threatened or if civilians are on the verge of finding out about magic or the war. Jeanne is eventually forced to directly intervene when everybody finds out [[spoiler:there is another Ruler who is violating the rules by joining the war.]]

** ''Videogame/HalfeLifeAlyx'' went further making it clear that [[spoiler:the G-man outclasses all players involved in the affair between Earth and the Combine aside from his employers. So much so that he considers getting the Combine off Earth entirely to be only a "nudge" to the timeline. A particularly large nudge but still only a nudge. That and the only reason he doesn't do so regardless is that someone further up is employing him and would disagree with that action. His powers extend across time, space, and reality at large.]]
--> "I wish I could do more than keep an eye on you, but I have agreed to abide by certain... restrictions..."

* The EliteFour in various ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games are usually the best Trainers in the region along with the Champion, yet they rarely, if ever, help out when it comes the various villainous teams running amok. It's been suggested that the Elite Four are bound by a clause that doesn't allow them to meddle in the affairs of other Trainers unless it involves one of the Elite Four directly, such as Lorelei in ''Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen'' defending her home against a gang of Team Rocket grunts. Some games do have the elites and/or the champions step in when things go bad, such as Lance assisting the player fighting Team Rocket in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''.

** As the scribe of God and holding the knowledge of God's names and secrets, [[TheMetatron Metatron 1]] is explictly powerful enough to kill all of the surviving Demiurges and scour Throne free of their taint, but [[TheFettered having the Old Law literally written into their being]] prevents them from breaking it in such a manner. [[spoiler:As the GreaterScopeVillain of the comic, it is likely Metatron's manipulations of Zoss and Jagganoth is some manner of plan to get around this.]]

** The angels 2 Michael [[spoiler:and Metatron 1]] are both powerful enough to kill all of the surviving Demiurges and scour Throne free of taint, but [[TheFettered having the Old Law literally written into their being]] prevents them from breaking it in such a manner.

** While currently dead, WordOfGod says that Meti was not only the best swordsman but also the most powerful fighter period, with the possible exception of Zoss. The only thing stopping her from killing all the demiurges and taking over Throne was that she thought fighting was idiotic and it was better to be a farmer.

* The Brotherhood of the Guardians and their fire ant allies from [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics Archie's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'']] are all incredibly powerful and have access to super advanced technology. However, they care little about the affairs of the world outside their home city of Echidnaopolis and the floating island it's situated on. When Dr. Robotnik began conquering and enslaving the planet, all they did was keep their island hidden from him even though they could have easily taken him out at any time. This comes back to bite them when the traitorous Dr. Finitevus betrays their city's location to Robotnik, resulting in it being razed to the ground and most of the Brotherhood banished to another dimension.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': the Organians, introduced in "Errand of Mercy".

* ''Manga/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': Played for Drama and Horror with [[spoiler: Anthy Himemiya]]. No limits to their power are even implied, and they are directly responsible for much of the [[RealityWarper inexplicable magical happenings]] taking place at Ohtori Academy. While they could resolve the central conflict around the Duels at any time, they've been so thoroughly emotionally destroyed that they cannot imagining ''using'' their power for themselves outside of minor miracles. [[spoiler: Utena's ActOfTrueLove in the finale restores enough of Anthy's self-worth that she then immediately leaves her toxic environment. And, sure enough, there's nothing that the BigBad can do to stop her.]]

** The two Bahrag {{hive queen}}s, Cahdok and Gahdok, malicious [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood but not technically evil]] leaders of the destructive [[TheSwarm Bohrok swarms]] are just bystanders when the swarm is inactive. Though they have great powers and are hard to beat, they have staid in their lair for a hundred thousand years and never cared for anything not directly tied to their sole objective, to periodically cleanse the artificial island Mata Nui of all life, forests, rivers and mountains, as decreed by the deity Mata Nui. Even when Mata Nui was dying or his spirit was displaced into another body, the Bahrag didn't move a finger despite ostensibly serving his will.

* Both Splinter and The Shredder serve as this for the good and bad sides respectably in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012''. The reason because these two both qualify as the WorldsStrongestMan that as no other person in the series could fight evenly with them. When Splinter enters a fight against Shredder's men? Splinter always curbstomps them. Shredder entering in a fight against the Turtles? The Turtles are lucky enough to even escape alive. It's pretty clear that all of the main problems in the series could've been solve if Splinter was more active and this actually works in Shredder's favor as he successfully won after teaming with The Kranng. [[spoiler:It's only natural that both Splinter and Shredder get killed off once the series ended.]]

** The [[SentientPhlebotinum Energized Protodermis]] [[CosmicEntity Entity]] was a conscious and rather boastful silvery liquid with a power tied to the universal force of fate: who or whatever touched it would be either transformed into something else or immediately killed depending on their destiny. The substance was so powerful and volatile, trying to control it lead to the planet Spherus Magna splitting into three planets, [[WhenItAllBegan which kicked off all the events on the franchise]]. The kicker was that even the Entity itself had no control over its power, and was frequently used by various factions as a power-source, an ingredient for experimentation or as ammunition. Despite these key roles, [[MinorMajorCharacter the Entity itself only appeared a couple times]] as a FillerVillain, revealing every drop of it has been aware of everything for over 100,000 years, it just didn't care to make itself known, not even to the scientists studying it. The one exception was its relationship with Teridax. Seeing as both of them shared an [[AGodAmI evil god complex]], they frequently collaborated on twisted animal experiments.